Riding the Wave
by amandajbruce
Summary: For three summers in a row, Lilly and Oliver have attempted to teach Miley how to surf.


A/N: Since I made a comment in one of my other stories that Lilly and Oliver attempted to teach Miley to surf, and someone said that it would make a good story, I decided to write it. I had so much fun writing this. I have to admit, I do not surf. Most of what's in here is knowledge gained from friends who do and movies that show the lessons. Also: With this going up, we can all consider this the official end to my season one missing moments. I am on to the world of season two after this. I hope you all have enjoyed my version of the first season!

Disclaimer: I keep forgetting to do these, and it should be pretty obvious, but just in case anyone thought otherwise, I own no part of the Hannah Montana franchise.

Riding the Wave

"I'm never doing that again," Oliver moaned and flopped onto the deck behind Miley Stewart's house. He stretched his legs out in front of him, feeling every muscle protest. He laid down, his head using the cushion from a patio chair as a pillow.

"That's what you said last time," Lilly groaned as she collapsed next to him. She did not even bother with trying to find a pillow.

"This time, I mean it." His brown eyes looked at Lilly's face. He knew she was exhausted too. He thought back on the events of the day and smiled. "Miley should have been a blond. She so fit's the stereotype," he goaded.

"Hey, don't insult my hair like that!" Lilly's tone held mock outrage.

"Oh, right, almost forgot." Sarcasm laced his voice.

"Besides, blond is your type," Lilly teased him. "Hannah, Becca, Jessica Simpson… should I keep going?"

Oliver rolled his eyes and continued. "She's incapable of standing on a surfboard once it's in the water. It's time to give up. Plus, this time, you begged me to help."

"But she really wants to learn." Lilly's voice was muffled as she threw one of her arms over her face to block it from the sun. "And Lilly Truscott does not beg. She repeatedly asks until she wears you down."

"And your dog really wants to eat everything in sight. That doesn't mean he should. Lilly, this is the third time we've really tried to teach her. She's hopeless. And she almost drowned me!"

One of Lilly's eyelids popped open and she peered at Oliver. "I thought we practiced enough on the sand. Sorry." She managed a small smile. "Besides, the water was only up to your knees."

"You can drown in a bathtub! Especially if someone is pulling you down!"

"Aw, Oliver, I didn't know you still took baths," she teased him.

"I do not take baths. I shower. Would you focus? She almost drowned me!"

"Would you get over it? She panicked, and I helped you. Crisis averted."

Lilly halfheartedly moved the arm covering her eyes to smack him in the side, but she was not up to her usual speed. Oliver caught her wrist and dropped their hands to the surface of the deck.

He sighed. "I'm too tired to argue now. Can we do this later? Maybe after I take a nap?"

"You have until Miley gets out of the shower," Lilly mumbled and let her eyes fall shut again.

Miley could not stand the thought of having sand and salt clinging to her suit for any longer than was necessary, so she decided to shower immediately after getting home, leaving her friends to their own devices. Lilly and Oliver were too tired to care.

The two of them spent four hours on one of the hottest days of the year, so far, down on the beach attempting to teach Miley the finer points of surfing. School ended just two weeks before, and the friends went through this at some point of the summer break each year since the Stewart family moved to Malibu. It was always a memorable experience.

Robby Ray Stewart and his two children made the trek from Crowley Corners, Tennessee to Malibu, California right before Miley's year in the sixth grade. She and Lilly became fast friends during the classes they shared in the fall. By the end of the school year, Miley even enrolled in the same summer session classes that Lilly's parents had forced her to take. They bonded further over the belief that school should not exist in June and a love of Hannah Montana's new CD.

While Oliver shared those beliefs, he was much more hesitant to befriend the new girl, especially one who talked about mullets and catfish as much as she did with her weird accent. Besides, he already had a best female friend; did he really need another one? He also inadvertently spread a rumor that her family ate possum when he speculated as to what southern cuisine consisted of. When Miley expressed an interest in surfing though, he decided he would really give her a chance.

That summer, the southerner discovered the reason she and Lilly did not hang out when they did not have class on Fridays was the result of Lilly and Oliver having a standing arrangement to surf at the crack of dawn, have breakfast, surf some more, then spend the afternoon watching old movies. It was the only day of the week the kids had all to themselves: no parents, no Spanish, no Geography, and no Earth Science, whatever that was supposed to be. Oliver still had not figured that class out.

Miley begged them to let her tag along so she would not have to spend another summer day with her older brother. And so, the following Friday, Oliver found himself waiting in Lilly's backyard for her and Miley to emerge from their sleepover.

"Don't we need boards?" Miley asked her two friends as they walked to the beach.

"We're gonna rent one. You're gonna have to learn the basics first," Lilly informed her, picking up her pace as the sun climbed higher in the sky.

After a few minutes, Miley had another question. "Why do you guys go so early? Aren't ya'll tired?"

"The earlier you go, the less crowded the beach is. Except for the really old surfers, everybody's sleeping in in the summer," Oliver responded pointedly. "Besides, we'd go out earlier and then sleep all afternoon if Lilly was allowed to surf when it was still dark out."

"You're not allowed to surf before the sun comes up either!" Lilly shot back, making sure to let Miley know she was not the one holding back their surfing aspirations.

"Earlier? No way," Miley muttered under her breath.

Oliver gave Lilly a look over Miley's shoulder, as if to say, "See, I told you this was a bad idea." Lilly ignored him and spent the rest of the walk explaining the importance of balance and how to survive rip currents to Miley.

Privately, Miley thought her two friends looked like miniature versions of some of the professionals that had recently been in town for a competition. Lilly kept her blond hair piled on the top of her head in a messy bun so it was out of the way, one of the few times she did not bother trying a crazy new style. She and Oliver both wore board shorts and had hemp jewelry on their wrists. She wondered if this was more for effect than anything else. Maybe they were not as good as she thought.

On that first surfing lesson, Miley never even made it into the water.

She and Lilly watched Oliver from the beach for a little while. Lilly explained every move he made before he finally paddled back in, putting the board flat on the sand at Miley's feet. Miley looked at the board blankly, not knowing what they wanted her to do with it. Lilly stepped on to the board, laid down on her stomach, and repeated some of her earlier instructions.

"So, remember, you paddle until the wave is just at the board, then you pop up." She demonstrated. Keeping her legs carefully on the surf board, Lilly drew her hands through the sand to show Miley how to paddle, then suddenly jumped to her feet. Lilly managed to keep her knees bent and her right foot toward the back of the board.

"Okay, you see how she has her foot back there like that?" Oliver asked Miley. "That's the sweet spot."

"The what?" she asked him flatly. Lilly had not covered this.

"Sweet spot," he repeated. "If you keep you foot back like that, it helps with steering the board, and it'll help you keep your knee bent for balance."

"You know," Miley remarked to Lilly, "he almost sounds like he knows what he's talking about."

"He does," Lilly answered, hopping off the board. "Well, this time he does."

Oliver chose to pretend he did not hear the "this time" amending Lilly's statement and added, "Make sure you put your hands down in front of you when you pop up. And keep your body low if you're afraid you're gonna fall."

"Okay." Miley nodded her head and got on the surf board.

Lilly took a step back, saying, "Paddle, paddle, paddle… okay, make sure your legs are on the board, not in the sand. That'll slow you down in the water, and paddling out is really hard work. Good. Paddle. Now, pop up!"

Miley tried to hop up as she had seen Lilly do earlier, but as she attempted to stand her focus was more on Gabe (the hottie with a swimmer's body) emerging from the water, and she caught her right foot on the edge of the board and toppled on to the beach.

Oliver laughed, but Lilly smacked him in the arm, saying, "it's alright, try again."

Miley aimed a glare in their direction, but did as she was told. She was nothing if not determined. She brushed the sand from her arms and legs, laying back on the board. Lilly shouted for her to stand up again, much sooner than the last time, and Miley found herself sliding forward on the board, unable to hold her footing.

Oliver bit his lip to keep from laughing, but the look Lilly gave him made the bitten lip unnecessary.

"I'm just going to go get something to drink," he said, backing away from his best friend.

While he was gone Miley tried a dozen more times. Once she fell backwards, almost colliding with a family walking down the beach. Once she did not even manage to stand completely up before her feet slid out from under her. The last three times, Lilly made her way closer to Miley and tried to hold her steady each time she attempted to snap up from the board's surface.

"Okay, try on your own again." Lilly took a few steps back and began the verbal litany of "paddle." She caught Oliver's eye as he came up behind Miley with a couple of bottles of water. Wanting to prove that she was the better instructor, she called, "stand up!"

Miley jumped to her feet, but again, a cute boy made his way by her board nodding a head in greeting, and the surfing novice lost her balance when she tried to wave a hello, throwing her arms into the air. Her right hand collided with Oliver's face and blood began to leak from Oliver's nose.

"Aw, man! Miley!" Oliver grabbed his nose, letting the water bottles drop to the sand, and tilted his head back.

"Are you okay?" Lilly asked, rushing to his side.

Miley, on her back in the sand, said, "I'm sorry," in a very small voice.

There were no more surfing lessons for another year, mainly because Miley was too embarrassed, but also because Oliver flat out refused to help Lilly with what he dubbed "the curly haired catastrophe."

The summer after seventh grade was another story though. The three of them were almost inseparable. They bonded over their rejection from the popular crowd, as well as an incident involving Oliver and some spilled frog juice, and Miley had finally started to put the possum rumors behind her. Lilly informed her friends she would be going to camp for the whole month of July, and Miley told them she would be spending that same time visiting family. Oliver then decided it was time to try to give Miley her surfing lessons again. His philosophy was that she could then tell her relatives about her cool friends in Malibu and impress them with her new skills.

"Oliver, she's going to Tennessee. There's no ocean there," Lilly informed him when he brought it up.

"I know, but I feel bad that she has to hang out on the beach by herself when she comes with us." He snatched a French fry from the container in front of Lilly.

"So do I, but I remember you saying, 'no way, Lilly, not possible,' when I brought it up when school let out." She took his bottle of water from in front of him and helped herself to a sip.

"You know, we're in my kitchen. You could have just got your own from the fridge," Oliver told her.

"But I don't want a whole bottle," she argued.

"I'm starting to think you just like taking my stuff."

"Says the boy who steals all my food." There was a slight staring contest before normal conversation resumed.

The following morning, the dynamic duo showed up at the Stewart house and dragged Miley to a small surf shop.

"What are we doing here?" Miley's nose scrunched in confusion. She had been under the impression they were going to be tanning. Oliver and Lilly had their swimsuits on under their clothes, but neither were carrying their usual surf paraphernalia. She should have known better though. Oliver did not really have the patience to lay on the beach to tan.

"Oliver and I were talking last night," Miley's eyebrows raised at Lilly's words, "and he had an idea."

"Oh, sweet niblets."

"Hey! It's a good one," Oliver protested.

"Your good ideas like to go bad," Miley remarked.

"You're one to talk," was his response.

"Guys," Lilly interrupted, "we're not here to argue, we're here to surf."

"Say what?" Miley's eyes were wide now.

"My friend's dad owns this place. See, his parents got divorced a couple of years ago, and they owned a couple of restaurants. When he got one of the buildings in the divorce, he decided to convert one to his own surf store." Oliver looked proud of himself. "There's a surf simulator in the back."

"A what?"

"You can get on the surfboard without us going to the beach and see what it's like," Lilly said excitedly. "We so should have thought of this last year," she added.

"Hey Todd," Oliver nodded to the boy standing in front of the register. "You remember Miley from school, right?"

"Totally, dude. You want to learn how to be one with the water nymphs, right?" Todd's eyes were wide and a little out of focus, and Miley briefly wondered if they should be concerned for his health, but she just nodded her head. "Cool. 'Sup Lilly? Nice shirt. He's my favorite." One of his eyebrows cocked.

Lilly was wearing a black tee shirt that was a little too big for her with the yellow silhouette of a bat on the front. It was the universal teenage boy symbol for Batman.

"Me too. It's mine," Oliver cut in. Miley and Todd both turned to look at him. Miley had noticed the shirt when they came to get her that morning, but had just assumed it was another of Lilly's pieces of clothing that proved she was staying true to her tomboy ways.

"Dude, why's Lilly wearing your clothes?" Todd asked in a loud whisper, as though he did not want Miley and Lilly to hear him. It did not really work that way since he was standing closer to the girls than he was to Oliver. Lilly rolled her eyes.

"Just the shirt. The shorts are mine," she informed him. "And the suit, of course. Oliver would look weird in a two-piece."

"She stole it." Oliver looked pointedly at Todd

"Borrowed," Lilly corrected.

"You say that, but you never give anything you borrow back," Oliver told her.

"What? I was cold, and you took forever to get ready. Your mom had the air on like, freezing."

"I think you've been to my house enough to know how cold my mom keeps it. Maybe you should have thought of that before you came over in just your bathing suit and shorts."

"I didn't think I was going to have to wait forever for you. I mean, you're a boy. What takes you so long? It's not like you even did your hair or anything." Lilly reached over and lifted a strand of his hair from his head. "No product."

"I share a bathroom with my little brother, remember?"

"And it's not like I looked through everything in your closet to find a shirt I liked or anything," Lilly said nonchalantly.

"Yeah, I'm not leaving you alone in my room anymore." Oliver shook his head. "Thief," he muttered under his breath, but he sounded more amused than angry now.

"Fine! You want it back, here!" Lilly started to pull the shirt up, but Miley stopped her. This was not the first time she had seen the two of them bicker, but this was the first time Lilly had started to strip in public, even if she was wearing a bathing suit underneath.

"Where am I supposed to go for non-beach surfing?" Miley asked Todd brightly, trying to distract them from the fight over Oliver's clothes, but since she was holding Lilly's arms down, she probably was not doing all that great of a job.

Todd's eyes were still on Lilly when he said, "I can show you, I guess." Miley gathered he had not witnessed as much of the bickering between the two friends as she had, or maybe the prospect of the teenage girl removing her shirt had just proved too much for him.

"It's okay. I don't think you're supposed to leave the register." Oliver smoothly stepped in front of Lilly, cutting off Todd's line of sight.

"Yeah, we know where it is," Lilly agreed. And just like that, she and Oliver were back to normal.

They led Miley toward the back of the store. They had to pass racks of generic surfboards (nothing custom made here), tables of flower printed beach towels, displays of the more expensive brands of flip flops, and shelves of books with titles like "Surf's Up" and "Wave Theory."

"Is Todd okay?" Miley asked Lilly while they walked.

"What do you mean?"

"He looked a little… not here."

"Todd always looks like that. You get used to it," Oliver said, leading the way to the back of the store.

"Is he on drugs?"

Lilly laughed and said, "I don't think so. I think he just spends a lot of time in the sun. And under water. Plus, his dad's just like him."

Miley's eyes were wide as she took in the jewelry and clothing Todd's dad kept in stock. She had never really paid much attention to the whole surfer style before outside of what Lilly and Oliver wore to the beach.

"That's really cute," Miley remarked, turning to a pair of girl's board shorts hanging near by. Lilly grabbed one of her arms and Oliver grabbed the other, leading her away from the fashionable beach attire.

The floor of the area they entered was lined with the same mats that were placed on the ground in the gym when they had to climb the rope hanging from the ceiling. The wall looked like it was padded with the same kind of material, except that it was painted with scenes depicting sunset at the beach and small figures catching perfectly crested waves. In the center of all of this was something Miley never thought she would see: a worn yellow surfboard perched on the top of some sort of metal contraption.

"You want me to get on that?" Miley struggled to keep her voice from squeaking in fear.

"Think of it like riding a mechanical bull," Oliver told her, thinking this would be a suitable comparison for someone from the south.

"But less dangerous," Lilly put in when she saw the blood drain from Miley's face.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Miley asked.

"Yeah," Oliver told her, "the only person I've ever seen get hurt on this is Todd… and that's because he was standing on his hands, not his feet."

There was a pregnant pause. Miley had a feeling Lilly was reevaluating her opinion on whether or not Todd was on drugs.

"If it'll make you feel better, I'll go first," Lilly said reassuringly.

Miley nodded her head, so Lilly kicked off her shoes and stepped up on to the board. It was only about a foot off the ground, but to Miley, that foot looked pretty daunting. Lilly stood close to the middle of the board, knees bent, right foot slightly behind her.

"This is just for teaching balance. You'll still have to learn to get up on your feet," Oliver told her, walking to the pedestal a few feet from the board which housed the control panel. He turned his attention to Lilly. "What do you want shirt stealer? Hurricane force winds or tide pool?"

"If it's such a big deal, I'll give you the shirt back later. Jeez, it's not like it's even going to fit you in another six months." Lilly rolled her eyes as she took a breath, then said, "Put it on one of the lower settings so Miley can see how it works."

Oliver turned the dial to three on the scale of one to fifteen, hit the button marked right foot, then pushed the start button without any warning to Lilly.

"There are sensors in the board, so once you fall off, or jump, the board stops moving," Oliver explained.

Miley kept her eyes on Lilly, who was expertly shifting her weight every time the platform moved. When the board tipped forward, Lilly appeared to let her legs move that way, but her upper body leaned back to counter the momentum. Her feet gripped the board, never moving. Miley wondered if Lilly had glued them there when she was not looking.

"How does she do that?" Miley muttered to Oliver.

"Practice," he responded. Miley glanced at him. It was weird, but his face looked different. It took her a minute to figure out why. He was completely absorbed in Lilly's movements, actually concentrating on them. She almost never saw him think that hard.

"Don't give yourself a headache," she joked.

"What?"

"Lilly's the one doin' all the work. Why are you concentratin' so hard? Unless you like what you see up there." She was just teasing, but she had not expected his face to turn pink.

"Pfft. Yeah, right. I'm just trying to figure out a way to get my shirt back," he mumbled unconvincingly. Miley decided to file this under information she could use later. She would, in fact, attempt to use it in the fall when trying to get Oliver to fall for someone who was not Hannah Montana. When it did not work, she assumed she had misunderstood the look.

"You ready?" Lilly called from the surfboard. Miley doubted she had been able to hear any of their conversation. Without waiting for a response, Lilly jumped to the ground, and gestured for Miley to come forward.

"I don't know if this is a good idea. What if I fall?"

"You'll be fine," Oliver said.

"Yeah," Lilly chimed in, "and even if you do fall, you can blame Oliver." Lilly shrugged. "That's what I always do."

"Hey!"

"Just kidding." Lilly smiled at him.

"No, you really do blame me for everything," Oliver told her blandly.

"It's just easier," Lilly explained to him. "But I make up for it by letting you take my food… most of the time."

"Oh, that's true." He nodded thoughtfully, then added, "but you still steal all my stuff."

"Oliver, I already told you! As fast as you're growing, six months, tops, and this won't fit you anymore." Lilly pointed to the shirt she was wearing.

"But, it's Batman, Lilly. Hello! He's only my favorite super hero!"

"I'll give it back later! I'm not taking it off now! It's cold in here."

"No, you won't." He knew her better than that

They were practically standing nose to nose now.

"Are you guys done yet?" Miley asked. She had climbed on to the surf platform while they were arguing and decided to interrupt before they attracted the attention of the other two people shopping at the opposite end of the store.

"Sorry," the two of them said in unison.

Lilly turned the dial to one, pushed the right foot button to align the board, checked to make sure Miley was ready, then hit start. The board barely moved, giving Miley ample time to adjust her weight.

"Just remember, go with the flow, like you're on a real wave, and you'll be fine," Lilly told her.

"Hey, this isn't so bad."

"We're going up to the next level," Lilly called to Miley while she turned the dial.

The board began to dip a little further forward and back, but just barely. Miley nodded her head as she moved with the fiberglass below her.

"You know, this is kind of like dancing," Miley told her friends.

"No, it's really not," Lilly told her.

"Not at all," Oliver added.

Lilly turned the dial up to three when she though Miley could handle it. She had to bend her knees a little bit more, and put her hands out to the sides at first, but she quickly got the hang of it.

"I'm kind of surprised this is working," Lilly whispered to Oliver. "I didn't think she'd be able to stay up."

"Maybe in the future, you'll have more faith in me," Oliver told her, leaning on the control panel's podium.

"One good idea out of a billion lousy ones does not mean I'm going to listen to you from now on," Lilly teased him.

"Why not? I'm obviously a genius." He propped his elbow up near the buttons, not noticing that it edged the dial up a few notches.

"Oh, man." Miley slid a little, and bent much closer to the board, struggling to stay on.

"Genius?" Lilly cried out. "Ha. That's like saying my little brother belongs in an advanced math class. Never happening." Turning to look Oliver in the eye, she gripped the control panel with one hand, her palm flattening against the left foot button, changing the balance of the board.

"Guys," Miley called, falling to her knees on the platform.

"Now, that's just mean," Oliver said, straightening back up, his arm again brushing the dial, sending it up a few more notches.

There was a squeal and a crash as Miley flew from the surface of the surfboard and on to the mats. Lilly and Oliver froze in horror.

"Uh, dudes, she's supposed to stay on the board," Todd said, coming up behind them. He had been heading for the stock room when he heard the crash.

"Yeah, thanks," Lilly rolled her eyes.

Oliver then declared the lessons would be continued after Miley visited her family. They did not.

Lilly and Oliver however, failed to notice that when Hannah Montana played a show in Malibu two days later, her wrist was wrapped in a bandage just like Miley's.

And Lilly never did give Oliver back his shirt. Of course, Oliver never really considered attempting to get it back either.

This now brings us back to the present day, the summer after the eighth grade, where Lilly and Oliver are sprawled on the Stewart family deck in exhaustion.

"Guys, you know if you're dry, you can come in and sit on the couch," Miley called to them from the doorway. "You don't have to stay out here like a couple of orphaned raccoons."

"Ugh. Is nap time over already? I didn't even fall asleep." Oliver groaned.

"Miley, I'm too tired to move," Lilly added.

Oliver cautiously opened his eyes, squinting in the afternoon sun. "How are you even standing right now?"

"Endurance of a pop star." Miley walked out on to the deck and settled into one of the lounge chairs. She had been forced to reveal her secret early on in the school year, and as a result, they were closer than ever.

"And yet, you can't run the length of the soccer field," Lilly quipped. She opened her eyes, craning her neck to spot her friend. "Oh, my God! What happened to your eye?" Lilly quickly sat up and spun to face Miley, kicking Oliver in the side as she did so.

"Ow!"

"Sorry!"

"This?" Miley pointed to the ring of purple and green forming around her right eye. "This is from you hitting me in the face an hour ago."

Oliver pulled himself up as well to take a look, then defended Lilly, saying, "she was saving me from drowning!"

"By punching me?"

"I didn't punch you! Well, not on purpose… You guys were flailing around so much… I'm really sorry."

"I thought I saw a shark!" Miley protested.

"Those were the fins on someone's surfboard," Oliver pointed out, giving her a suspicious look.

"I wasn't trying to drown you on purpose! I just wanted to get away from the shark!"

"There was no shark!"

"Does it hurt?" Lilly cut in, feeling badly that she had somehow managed to give Miley a black eye when she pulled her off of Oliver in the water. She still wanted to laugh every time she thought of Miley's shriek before she attacked him to get back to the beach. And then Oliver's shriek when he realized Miley was the one attacking him.

"It's no big deal, I'll just have to cover it up for the show tomorrow." Miley shrugged. "It's not like you stole my shirt or my slingshot or my crayons or anything."

"Miley!" Lilly groaned. She would never hear the end of that.

"Yep. She's a little thief." Oliver nodded his head, but laughed when Lilly glared at him.

"I told you, the slingshot was a hostage until I got a birthday present. Still no present." She shrugged comically.

"What about the crayons?"

"Oliver, we were four, do you really expect me to know which crayons in my house belong to you when they could be my brother's or your brother's, for that matter?"

"What about the shirt?"

"I really don't think it'll fit you. Besides, I like Batman."

He gave her a look, not wanting to explain that the fit was not the point for the thousandth time, but that it was Batman. He knew she did not like Batman. She would not spend so much time making fun of the movies when he forced her to watch them instead of one of her musicals. Lilly pinched him in the side, not wanting to admit that she could not give it back because, as it turned out, it was her favorite shirt to sleep in and it was very well worn, not exactly in the same condition as when she liberated it from his closet a year ago.

"At least now we're even," Oliver remarked to Miley, rubbing his arm where Lilly had pinched him. Both girls gave him blank looks. "First time we tried to teach Miley to surf, she almost broke my nose," he reminded them.

"Yeah, but last year, I sprained my wrist," Miley put in.

"True," Oliver agreed thoughtfully. "Lilly's the only one who's never got hurt." They both looked at her.

"I just happen to have a better sense of balance," Lilly informed them, yawning. " I never would have let a freaked out girl drag me under my board."

Oliver shoved her shoulder lightly, and she toppled over on the deck.

"Not so much with the balance," he said.

She stuck her tongue out at him from her place on the wooden floor and Miley laughed.


End file.
